Down Payment Begins For Haldia Cracker

Haldia Petro chairman N Krishnamurthy said on Tuesday that the first down payment and letters of credit with Toyo will involve about Rs 100 crore. The financial institutions concerned and the State Bank of India had agreed to provide the required deferred payment guarantee for the implementation of the project.

He said West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had discussed the status of the project at a recent meeting with senior officials of the company and experts. The next meeting of the Haldia Petro board is scheduled on Friday.

Krishnamurthy said the cost of the naphtha cracker project, according to revised estimates, was Rs 5,200 crore. The equity partners for the project had already provided 50 per cent of the total equity fund of Rs 1,010 crore.>